Bournemouth Fan View: Arter playing for Ireland a good thing?

I was as happy as any other AFC Bournemouth fan when Harry Arter got called up for Ireland national side back in 2015. If anyone deserves a chance to prove himself at international duty it’s Harry Arter after all.

But there’s a case to be made that his international career may not be helping him when it comes to performing for his club side. Why do I think this? Well I’m glad you asked…

International Harry Arter

AFC Bournemouth players going on international duty still surprises me in all honesty. This is largely due to seeing us play in the lower leagues for so many years.

That said, not too many of our squad actually play for their respective national sides. Probably as most of them are English, and no Bournemouth players can be picked for England apparently. But that’s something to discuss another time.

Harry Arter has played for the Ireland under-17 and under-19s sides though. And despite a strange (and short-lived) rumour that circulated in 2015 claiming Arter was going to try and get into the England squad, there was little doubt he was going to get into Martin O’Neill’s side sooner rather than later.

His performances since playing for the green army have been mixed at best however. In his full international debut he won man of the match against the Netherlands.

But he’s also been involved in some tepid displays, including a putrefying 1-1 draw against Georgia. A game which saw Harry Arter struggle in to an almost ridiculous extent. If you need proof of this, Ireland only saw 26% possession in that match. 26% possession. Against Georgia. I’ll let that just sink in for a moment.

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The Bournemouth way

Of course Martin O’Neill doesn’t care one jot about possession. Not in his tenure as Ireland manager anyway. The wins he has overseen as Ireland boss have been so gritty they could be used to remove the ice from roads.

But my point is whether being a part of this side has really helped Harry Arter. He’s struggled for form with us in the last year after all. And this has coincided slap bang with him playing more for Ireland.

After all, Bournemouth’s style could hardly be described as gritty. We rely more on possession based football, as well as moving the ball forward quickly and incisively.

The Ireland aesthetic

So it could be that having to constantly switch between two vastly different styles may not be helping Harry. It would certainly go some way to explain his hugely disappointing displays for us so far this season.

He’s all too often looked unsure of himself, lacking the courage to move forward with the ball or physically dominate opponents. We’ve really missed his courageous displays in the middle of the park. As a result we’ve struggled to really settle on a definitive midfield pairing (or trio) so far this campaign too.

I could, of course, be making a mountain out of a molehill here. It could well be that Harry Arter successfully leading Ireland to the World Cup in their upcoming play-off games against Denmark could be just what he needs to reignite his form. And subsequently his AFC Bournemouth career. Fingers crossed!